SUBJECT 7

(Lead singer Mike answered all the interview questions on behalf of Subject 7.)

How would you describe your band’s music, such as who writes your songs? What are your songs about? Do you think these topics will change over time?

MJ : I would say that we are New Wave Heavy Metal at heart, but there are so many influences within the band that it’s hard to pin down what we are. So stylistically and sound wise ‘metal’ would be the genre we fall into most. Our songs usually come as an idea from one member or another and then we all build and structure from there. We have been known to just make songs up in about 4 minutes between the 5 of us though which is pretty surreal when it happens.

Can you give us a bit of background on your band such as how did Subject 7 get started? Why is it named as Subject 7?

MJ : Subject 7 was formed from the ashes of a band called HockeyMask Heroes. When the band folded me and Sam met with Ex-Asylum guitarist Kev Balshen and drafted in 2 members of Oceanbend and the band was formed.

The name came from throwing a few ideas around, in the end Kev came to us with Specimen 6 (Named after the Alien movies) and it reminded me of a script I had written when I was in my early twenties called Subject 7. Everyone liked it and we just kind of ran with it.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?

It’s evolved on a major scale. The first EP we released was mainly just a demo that we spent a bit of time tarting up. Then we went off to write our album and when we got there, we actually realized that we had become much better writer and musicians for it.

It was then we decided to go back and write 7 new songs from scratch which will be featured on our New EP SEVEN RISING out this summer.

MJ : I think we have now performed almost every region of the country. London, Manchester, Cambridge. We even played Glasgow twice last year. But we always get excited to play Preston as it’s where we started out and all our friends are here and that helps a lot.

What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?

MJ : We practice 3 times a week and then do anything from 1 – 4 gigs a week, so it’s pretty intense. But we spend a lot of time writing and working and reworking. It’s quite exhausting, but worth it when we get out there and know our songs inside out.

What are you listening to at the moment?

MJ : Strangely enough I have iTunes on random and ‘Blood On The Dance Floor’ by Michael Jackson is on right now. lol. But in general I find that my music taste floats across the board, as long as music is good I tend to like it despite the genre. Of course metal will always be my first choice, but never my only choice. I think to be a good writer in the end you have to understand all kinds of music.

I watched your music video Come Out tonight, it’s very cool, indeed. How would you briefly describe the music video-making process?

MJ : Thank you very much. Basically we had talked about doing the video for it for a long time, then the location came up, but we had like a five-day window, so we managed to pull everything together in 3 days for the whole thing. It was a pretty intense shoot, especially as I was directing and featuring in it.

It took about 13 hours stood in the cold rain to get it done, but the end result definitely exceeds my expectations. It truly looks great, but that all down to the team that we had and the band acting like true professionals when it was called upon.

What’s planned ahead for Subject 7?

MJ : The next stage for us in the SEVEN RISING EP, which will feature all new material from us that we have never played live and of course a new video for our second single ‘NO FATE’.

What’s your ultimate direction for your band?

MJ : I think we just want to be the best that we can be at our craft and the band gives us the opportunity to that. So as long as we’re always pushing our own boundaries then Subject 7 will always have a place in our lives.